Rumors that the studio would be closing its doors began circulating back in February, and unfortunately they've proven true.

Dark Energy Digital directors and co-MDs, Pete and Deborah Jones (the former of which is partially responsible for the abysmal Rise of the Robots, we haven't forgotten, Mr. Jones), as well as Technical Director Gary Leach, pooled their resources and registered a new company under the name of Dark Energy Publishing back in January. Rumor has it that a pre-packaged administration deal has been made that will allow the new company to pick up the assets of the old one when it eventually folds. If that's the case, Dark Energy Publishing would take on the assets and IP of Dark Energy Digital without taking on its financial obligations, leaving creditors and staff, both of which are rumored to be owed money by Dark Energy Digital, out of pocket. Dark Energy Publishing hasn't responded to this rumor.

Hydrophobia, Dark Energy Digital's only game, was notable for three reasons. The hilariously bad Scottish accent featured in the initial version of the game; the fact Deborah Jones accused Destructoid editor and Escapist contributor, Jim Sterling, of "playing the game wrong" after his rather scathing review and the impressive HydroEngine, which provided stunningly realistic water effects. Sadly, the engine, which took three years to develop, wasn't enough to prevent Hydrophobia from belly flopping. It received a poor critical response and sales were unremarkable. Even the release of a reboot designed to address key complaints failed to make a big enough splash to save the company.

Didn't even have to check to know who the author of that title was.Nothing to do now but sit back and wave goodbye.Despite the way she behaved I can't help but feel sorry for Deborah Jones. Poor lady obviously has now idea what it's like to be wet.

And another one bites the dust. Damn, I don`t like this, not one bit. Sure the game might not have been very good, but seeing developers go under is always quite sad.Also, dear god. There were so many puns it this article. I mean, the weren`t even in italic or bold, for god`s sake!

DVS BSTrD:Didn't even have to check to know who the author of that title was.Nothing to do now but sit back and wave goodbye.Despite the way she behaved I can't help but feel sorry for Deborah Jones. Poor lady obviously has now idea what it's like to be wet.

I can't say I'm sad for the developers, because the game itself deserved every bit of criticism it had. I made the mistake of grabbing the game in a Steam sale for less than $5 and I still felt ripped off by this POS. Sure, the water looks pretty, but the game itself was bad, really, really bad.

Sad to see this. I will say though, bleh, the game is rubbish. I've seen it online in places like Steam for about $2.49. Not a good game. Just sell the engine to other companies to make better games with.

CM156:Really was that bad, eh? I'd herd it was the spawn of Satan from a friend of a friend, but other than that, I didn't hear anything about it.

wouldn't say that, personallyI kinda found it to be kind of like Tomb Raider but with heavy emphasis on water physics and a smartass main character, with an even more smartass intel guy acting as your personal cortana

Didn't play the game and now I feel bad that I didn't. It looked interesting enough and lord knows that this industry should reward all of the creativity that it can get but all of the reviews and complaints about the bugs in the game stopped me in my track in getting it. That and underwater levels suck.

Coming up this fall, a little less originality and more F***ING SEQUELS.

I get this sinking feeling that there will be no rage that bubbles up over this. Im not surprised not many people will be getting misty over this evaporation of a studio. Their product was drowning in a deluge of problems. Hopefully the staff have soaked up as much experience as they could from this studio and will be able to surf their way into future employment as this boat capsizes and shipwrecks on the rocky shore that is the games industry but it is still better than being sucked into a life sucking whirlpool that is a poorly ran failing studio..

Spongebob!

Anyway. Im not upset over this. The game was horrendous. It would be a grave disservice to these guys to tie their skill sets up on another mediocre project. Yes it sucks to be out work, especially in this economy, but if the individual has the skill and the determination they WILL find work in that field and if not, they will find it elsewhere. So better to deal with this now than to wallow in mediocrity with the studio and let that reflect negatively on a resume.

will not miss them. hydrophobia was bad. even after 6 patches it still was bad. the water was really the best i have ever seen, but the game as such, the story, the characters were just badly scripted.

This game has been released almost 2 years ago. Didn't they do anything profitable in that time? What I don't get is that these companies bet all their money on one (sea)horse, and when it bombs, just go down with the ship. Ever heard of divide and conquer?

The rate at which indie developers are churning out small (but enjoyable) titles, to keep them afloat is much more efficient than what the Hydrophobia devs have been doing.

DVS BSTrD:Didn't even have to check to know who the author of that title was.Nothing to do now but sit back and wave goodbye.Despite the way she behaved I can't help but feel sorry for Deborah Jones. Poor lady obviously has now idea what it's like to be wet.

Really was that bad, eh? I'd herd it was the spawn of Satan from a friend of a friend, but other than that, I didn't hear anything about it.

It's main problem was mainly that it was on the bad side of average. Not bad enough to be entertaining, but not good enough to be... good. Kind of like DNF, but without the hype, and less attempts at dick jokes.

How ironic... But in honesty, Hydrophobia was ambitious and the engine was interesting enough. Problematic though was the game itself: I played through it entirely, and only near the end of the game do you truly get to play with the water physics. Had they given you the powers earlier in game I think it may have been MUCH better.

So excited for the engine in this, bought it, terrible, terrible game. Learn to animate water in 3DS Max, you'll genuinely have more fun and learn a better skill then, "uuhhh, so I do this? and then that? How was I supposed to figure that out?"

Well, this does explain why the PSN version dropped the price to a floor-thudding $2.99. At that price point, if the game turns out to be shit I won't feel quite as disheartened and vitriolic as I would if I ponied up $15-60. About an hour in, and it's feeling like the game convinced itself it's Bioshock Lite with the philosophical undercurrent guiding you through a steadily flooding citadel. Delusions of grandeur, sure, but it's adorable in a pathetic sort of way. Like a shelter dog, or Alone in the Dark.

As for Dark Energy, it's sad to see a developer die off when they're still wet behind the ears, forced to liquidate their assets to keep from being flooded with debt and...erm...y'know what? Fuck this. I hate puns anyways.

And fuck my theater professor for making me watch the school production of Urinetown.

Sucks for anyone to lose their job, but at the same time I am only so sympathetic to them because they put all their eggs in a basket that was full of holes. Being forced to release 6 major patches before a game is considered "playable" is not good planning. There probably were some other mitigating circumstances that forced the release of what appears to have been an unfinished product, but especially considering people got to play a demo first, you better get it right on your first impression or else people are just not going to pay up.

Wait the game was out already? I remember how they had offer a vacancy for some job position in their company years ago. Either way I'm not too bother, it was a small company so I knew the game wouldn't be good.